Public 'to get better access to cutting-edge medicines'

The public will have better access to breakthrough medicines under new government plans.

7:13PM BST 14 Jul 2009

The "innovation pass" works by making cutting-edge medicines available for a limited time on the NHS.

The scheme will benefit small patient groups, such as those suffering from late-stage cancer, as they could have access to a new drug without having to wait for it to go through the NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) appraisal process.

The innovation pass is part of the Life Sciences Blueprint unveiled by health minister, Lord Darzi, and science minister, Lord Drayson.

The blueprint was launched at Imperial College London yesterday and is intended to change the environment for life science companies to enable faster patient access to cutting-edge medicines and technologies.

Lord Drayson said the blueprint was a plan of action to turn around a recent trend in which the UK has been losing market share in life sciences.

He explained: "We need the life science industry to be a real growth story in this country.

"It's one of our leading industries so we've spent the last six months working with the industry across government to identify what the problems are and what the solutions need to be to turn the situation around."

The innovation pass will be piloted in 2010/2011 with a budget of £25 million.

Lord Drayson said the pass would enable the NHS to become an innovation champion.

He explained: "The innovation pass allows the most innovative new medicines which target a small patient group, like, for example, late-stage cancer, where that group is not big enough to generate the patient data, to enable a full Nice appraisal to be done.

"The innovation pass will allow that patient to have access to the medicine for a period of time for the patient data to be gathered and then for a full Nice appraisal to be done.

"So it's a way of the NHS acting as an innovation champion for breakthrough new medicines.

"It's better care for patients and better value for the NHS."

As part of the wider blueprint, the NHS will review incentives, such as payment by results, in order to increase the uptake of medical technologies.

The government will also encourage greater emphasis to be placed on research and clinical trials.

The government will also support a UK life sciences "super-cluster", which will co-ordinate work from across the industry.